The initiative aims to integrate three million farmers into the digital economy in Kenya, Tanzania, and Nigeria through the Mastercard Community Pass platform.
The African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) and Mastercard have announced the launch of the national chapter of MADE Alliance: Africa in Kenya. The Kenyan chapter held its first meeting on the sidelines of the conference “Increasing Financing for Smallholder Farmers in Africa” (https://apo-opa.co/4hKcmr3), co-organized by the African Development Bank and the Pan-African Farmers’ Organization. The inaugural meeting brought together members of MADE Alliance: Africa, along with the Ministers of Agriculture from Eswatini, Liberia, Nigeria, Madagascar, and Sierra Leone.
In his opening speech, the President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi A. Adesina, emphasized the Bank’s $300 million commitment for the first five years of the MADE Alliance: Africa program. The initiative aims to integrate three million farmers into the digital economy in Kenya, Tanzania, and Nigeria through the Mastercard Community Pass platform. This digital identification system connects farmers with buyers, input suppliers, and financial institutions, thus improving their access to essential agricultural services.
“We are on track for an incredible and transformative initiative aimed at creating a powerful model of strategic, action-oriented partnerships, and effective resource mobilization that will transform the lives and ecosystems of smallholder farmers and agriculture in general,” said Akinwumi Adesina, who co-chairs MADE Alliance: Africa with Jon Huntsman, Mastercard’s Vice President and President of Strategic Growth.
Regarding gender inequality, Akinwumi Adesina highlighted the Bank’s AFAWA (Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa) initiative, which has already approved over $2.5 billion in financing for women-led businesses across the continent. In Sub-Saharan Africa, only 37% of women have a bank account, compared to 48% of men.
Digital tools offer a scalable solution to bridge this financial inclusion gap by providing female entrepreneurs with better access to capital and business growth opportunities.
Beth Dunford, Vice President at the African Development Bank in charge of Agriculture and Human and Social Development, and Ricardo Pareja, Senior Vice President, Sales and Markets, Community Pass at Mastercard, led the meeting of the Kenyan national chapter. The meeting provided a platform for MADE Alliance: Africa partners to discuss with government representatives aligning the initiative’s programs with the national agricultural agenda.
“We aim to digitize payments and focus on segments; agriculture is just one segment among others, and everything is done in cash. Therefore, farmers and other agricultural sector players are invisible to the formal economy. Our goal is to integrate them all into the formal economy,” said Ricardo Pareja, explaining why Mastercard would venture into the agricultural sector.
The meeting also showcased “proof of principle” projects in Kenya and Tanzania, illustrating effective partnership models that promote digital access to essential services. Alongside the African Development Bank, presentations from Heifer International, Equity Bank Group, Microsoft, and the Kenya National Farmers’ Federation highlighted the collaborative approach of the initiative.
Participants identified opportunities to align MADE Alliance: Africa programs with government initiatives and digital programs, particularly those aimed at empowering rural youth and women. Ministers expressed interest in scaling up programs in their respective countries and fostering collaborations with the private sector to strengthen support for smallholder farmers. Discussions also focused on investment strategies and fundraising efforts necessary to extend the initiative’s reach.
MADE Alliance: Africa aims to mobilize public and private sector resources to provide digital access to essential services for 100 million businesses and individuals across Africa over the next decade. The initiative’s key goals are to facilitate business transactions, improve access to affordable financial services, provide broadband internet access, enable catalytic financing, and leverage government digital farmer registration initiatives to boost agricultural productivity.
By digitizing the agricultural sector, the initiative aims to help farmers more easily access financing, improve their productivity, and increase their incomes, as well as those of agro-industrial businesses. Initially, it will focus on agriculture and the economic empowerment of women. Notably, smallholder farmers in Africa produce about 80% of the continent’s food.
In addition to the African Development Bank and Mastercard, MADE Alliance: Africa’s members include Equity Bank Group, Microsoft, Heifer International, Sustainable Agriculture Foundation, Unconnected.org, Yara, Kenya National Farmers’ Federation, Shell Foundation, and CRDB Bank.
